So I'm going to be running the Skull and Shackles AP and I know that one of my players will undoubtably be a druid. my worry is that, upon waking up and realizing he has none of his gear and has a bunch of hostile opponents in front of him, he'll launch a burning Hands to try to incinerate them. On a WOODEN ship. Is there a way to have him realize this before he goes and sets the place ablaze? Cause it would suck if we spend the majority of the first day trying to put out the fire.
I was thinking either an intelligence and/or a perception check to help him maybe come to his conclusion, specifically either perception to see the wooden floors and feel the boat sway, then maybe INT to know not to set it on fire. What would the DCs be for something like that?
...0? Under what circumstances would anyone try that? You don't need a Perception check to see what's in front of you.
My concern is that, yes, he's on a pirate ship. But the majority of the campaigns that I know he's been a part of have been in caves. You don't need to worry about that there as much, where as the first day on the ship he may not immediately realize the repercussions. I'm almost tempted to let it happen, but that clearly derails things.
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Does this AP involve being loaded onto the ship while unconscious, or boarding it intentionally? If the druid knows he's getting onto a boat, he should already know not to use fire.
If you're really convinced it's a problem, just say that it's raining when they wake up. The deck won't catch fire because it's wet, and you can remind your players that weather penalties exist.
they're below decks, and did not enter the ship willingly.
Unless the ship is made out of rocket fuel, the ship will not burn down at a fast rate. The fight is likely to be over in less than a minute: they have plenty of time to put the fire out with a bucket brigade before the ship would sink. (From a mechanical point of view, being on fire deals 1d6 points of damage per round. Wood has hardness 5. Normally you halve energy damage before applying hardness, but wood is flammable, so we'll keep full damage. That means each 'area' of the ship that is burning will only, on average, take one point of damage per six rounds. It'll sink the ship if left unattended, but it CAN be dealt with. It takes more than one flaming arrow to sink a ship, after all.)
As far as fighting on the ship, you might need your own rules for how fast the fire spreads, but the Environment chapter of the Core Rulebook tells us that it is a DC 15 Reflex save each round you are in a burning area to avoid catching fire. Being on fire deals 1d6 damage immediately, and 1d6 points of fire each round until the fire is put out.
In other words, if he wants to murder his enemies with fire, he can. But he'll probably be casting a lot of create water afterward to clean up.
Or if you're expecting him to lose (I haven't played that AP), then the crew puts out the fires he started with buckets of seawater, rough him up a bit, and give him a nice solid warning about using fire at sea.
Rules for the burning ship in the guide book are 2d6 per round bypassing the DR. However, to catch fire, the ship itself must fail a dc10+damage dealt check, so I think everything will be fine. Unless it's not. Which will be hilarious. Oh, and to put out the fire, apparently the ship has to make a dc15 reflex save.
Still trying to figure that part out (i think it has to do with the crew lol)
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The ship does have a mage character among the NPC's listed, and quite a high level one if I remember right. You could always have him there along with the other NPC's where the character awaken, to crush any spellcasting with contemptuous ease. It might also help give the PC's the (correct) impression that this is not the time to try fighting.
Ah, thanks JonGarret-that will work rather nicely. But now, I'm almost tempted to let it happen... assuming he even tries it.
Also, anyone within reach gets an AoO if he starts casting. Those can interrupt his casting as well. An escorted prisoner is unlikely to get a spell off before taking a sap or cudgel to the back of the head.
Both excellent points. I think I got it now. Thanks guys!
Simple answer is have their manacles count as metal armor. =p
Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and non-instantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don't normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.
Duration: Instantaneous
Now it does say "Flammable materials burn if the flames touch them."
But to me that means things like paper, oil, or cloth that catch fire more easily than large, solid wood structures.
And it also says "A character can extinguish burning items as a full-round action."
So it isn't hard to put any little fires out.
Did he pray for spells that day?
Also if he has a rank in profession sailor he knows hes on a boat.
Thinking about this, I have to ask: if you put metal armor onto an unconscious druid, would they lose their spell casting?I mean, there is some question about intent there, but I am unsure how people generally call this.
Anyway, if druids do lose spell casting... well, would it be unreasonable to cut that off for the first day? I am too unfamiliar with the time line in S&S to tell whether that would be crippling either.
I mean, if there was such an easy 'off switch', why would anyone NOT turn off the fire spewing abductee on your flammable boat while you are trying to establish a working relationship? It seems like a basic precaution for anyone that knows of it.
Once the first day is out, I would imagine that the realization that 'this is not an environment I can survive in' should set in fairly quickly. So you could then dispense with this metal business.
...0? Under what circumstances would anyone try that? You don't need a Perception check to see what's in front of you.
You'd be surprised. One campaign I ran had the party fighting a green dragon inside a giant tree. The druid summoned a fire elemental and a salamander to help with the fight.
Ships are very damp. I don't think low level fire would be enough to set the whole thing ablaze unless you hit a cask of gunpowder or alcohol with it.
As others have said, let the burning hands catch something on fire if there's any squares in the cone that have something other than empty floor space or a person in it. Scourge's henchmen will put the flames out, Scourge will thump the druid soundly, and then he'll get put to the mast and flogged at bloody hour for being stupid enough to use flame below decks.
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This may be too easy of a solution but when he inevitably attempts to be a human flamethrower just mention "you know that the ship is made of wood and that would be bad if it caught fire, right?"
Its pretty easy to tell if you are on a ship even if you cannot see the obvious ocean, the rocking back and forth and salty smell, and the interior of a ship looks different from most other buildings. Assuming he has seen a ship before he should be able to tell with no check required.
One option that hasn't been mentioned my be to encourage him to take a different domain. I know most Druid attack spells are fire-based, but if a large amount of the AP will be aboard ships, maybe he should focus on lightning spells instead.
If the situation is obvious, be Captain Obvious.
"The ship is made of wood, and there's lots of rope and cloth about. Are you sure about that?"
Well, you could always put out subtle hints: "You wake up on a wooden floor". Should be enough.
Personaly, if I DM'd for a caster who started to use fire spells in burnable buildings or ships, I would let things go to ashes. Players will have to learn some way. You can't just do things carelessly, and it can lead to some good stories. And as a player I would feel a bit cheated if things didn't start to burn, a bit too railroaded.
I havn't played Skull and Shackles, so I have no idea of the situation other than "they're on a ship". So my assupmtion is that the ship it self isn't important to the story or anything.
Even ignoring any possible story reasons the ship needs to stay afloat, they're in the middle of the ocean. If the ship burns down, that's the end of the AP. The PCs die, it's all over, come back next week we'll play something else.
This may be too easy of a solution but when he inevitably attempts to be a human flamethrower just mention "you know that the ship is made of wood and that would be bad if it caught fire, right?"
If the situation is obvious, be Captain Obvious.
"The ship is made of wood, and there's lots of rope and cloth about. Are you sure about that?"
This is somewhat on the nose. Playing a Druid, his wisdom should be above average. Vagaries of roleplaying mental stats aside, one would expect that'd make his character aware of the problem; even if the player isn't.
A nudge when someone makes a less-than-intelligent move on an intelligent character isn't guiding the players so much you're hand-holding.
Your fears are for nowt, burning hands does 1d4 fire damage in a 15ft cone at 1st level, that will not kill anyone as the sailors have 11hp. That will mean if he tries it hes just going to get wacked, beaten and whipped later. As for cathcing falmambale things on fire it won't catch the ship a light and is really easy to put out, there are 7 NPC's around so that is going to be no problem. Burning hands does next to no damage so I wou say that no it does not catch the ship alight (maybe use the ships hardness of 5 to show that it needs to be 5 or more HP damage before it catches?) even then it gets a fort save.
There ino way he would be able to pull naything off with Scourge and the 6 sailors stood around. let him try and he will just get beaten.
Bascially if you are worried just have all spellcasters bound and gagged until they get to the Captain. Simple.
From then on spellcasters need to make slight of hand to cast anything in the open. If spotted or if they start anything they get beaten.
They wll get the message soon enough.
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[some stuff]Even ignoring any possible story reasons the ship needs to stay afloat, they're in the middle of the ocean. If the ship burns down, that's the end of the AP. The PCs die, it's all over, come back next week we'll play something else.
** spoiler omitted **Ah, ic. Well then it's a bit harder.
Again, I don't know the situation, if they're meant to fight or just escape (I'm guessing the latter one).
but wood is flammable, so we'll keep full damage.
Just want to leave this here, if the object is vulnerable to fire, the hardness doesnt apply. IE: paper, cloth, parchment, a ship's sail, etc.
Also, rope has no hardness and has only 2 health per inch of thickness, so those would go poof in a turn or two.
Perhaps check out some underdeck-pictures of age of sail-naval-craft ? There are ropes (tarred), clothing , sails, hammocks (yes, made from cloth) and far too many inflammable substances everywhere ( there is heated tar in the gaps between the floorboards). And this is the tropics, so everything will in fact be dry as cinders.
Factually, open flame was one of the most frightening things for people on an ago of sail ship. Usually, the pantry was covered with bricks or terracotta tiles on the floor and even the ceiling to prevent a fire. Open candles anywhere ? No way.
Perhaps take a look at a very nicely arranged lower deck :
http://www.contemporarysculptor.com/hms%20vi14.jpg
That being said...... Have Peppery Longfarthing have "Pyrotechnics" among her spells, which will quickly vanquish most fires on a ship (in an emergency, hand her a scroll or wand). Then have the offending druid strapped for the mast and receive his first round of lashes, as well as having the Captain explain that "this sad heap of stupid" tried to burn down the ship ( and everyone on it), which should set up a nice social penalty for the druid.
Devious. I like that. A lot. Especially since the druid is our usual DM. He likes to exploit any opportunity-like chasing down the character who is supposed to escape by turning into a bird and giving chase lol. My first go at GM, wanna make sure I'm prepared lol